Athletics

Anna Kessel

With the talent available, particularly in the track events, British athletics should flourish in 2012, but there are plenty of hurdles yet to overcome. The appointment of Charles van Commenee as head coach – a disciplinarian who coached Denise Lewis and Kelly Sotherton to Olympic heptathlon gold and bronze medals respectively – has given the sport a boost, but change cannot happen overnight. Only four medals at the European Indoor Championships in March, plus a poor prediction for the World Championships next month, makes for bleak reading. There is a lack of depth in many events, exposed by injuries, and a severe lack of personnel in several of the field events.

Still licking its wounds after just four medals were won in Beijing, with Christine Ohuruogu's 400m victory the only gold – UK Sport responded with a budget cut of 5.3%, from £26.5m for Beijing to £25.1m. But athletics remains the fourth best-funded Olympic sport and there will be scant sympathy if budgets are used as an excuse for failing to deliver podium places. UK Sport currently has athletics on an amber rating for the last quarter.

When Britain won the 2012 bid athletics was in an even worse state. Britain had its worst ever showing at a World Championships, winning three medals, Paula Radcliffe's marathon gold the only bright spark. At junior level there were better prospects – Harry Aikines-Aryeetey won 100m and 200m gold medals at the World Youth Championships, Emily Pidgeon clinched European junior 5,000m gold and Jessica Ennis's European heptathlon gold had them all tipped for medals in 2012. The triple-jumper Nathan Douglas, then ranked third in the world, and Radcliffe were also in the frame. Four years on, though, just two from that list remain in contention: Ennis – Britain's best hope at this summer's World Championships – and Radcliffe, whose ongoing injury problems continues to cast doubt over her prospects.

Luckily, medal prospects in athletics tend to be a bit like buses, just as you've given up on one, another comes along. Britain's athletics stars these days are Ohuruogu, expected to defend her title in 2012, and Phillips Idowu, who should clinch triple-jump gold after the disappointment of silver in Beijing. Germaine Mason, Olympic high jump silver medallist last year, is another hope, as are the javelin thrower Goldie Sayers and Lisa Dobriskey in the 1500m – both of whom were unlucky to finish fourth in Beijing. Add in Ennis, Radcliffe and a possible two medals in the relays and British athletics may just pull off its best haul since Sydney 2000.

Medals in 2008 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze

Projected 2012 3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze

Boxing

Jamie Jackson

Due to the sport's fluid nature, and the threat of the professional ranks luring away any stand-out amateurs, prospects for 2012 could change over the next three years.

Of the current GB elite squad there are firm hopes that Bradley Saunders and Luke Campbell may win a medal at the London Games. Saunders, a 23-year-old from Stockton-on-Tees who fights in the 64kg light-welterweight division, won bronze at the 2007 world amateur championships and is the current European Union amateur champion. He also has Olympic experience and was disappointed to lose during the early stages in Beijing.

Campbell, a 22-year-old from Hull, is the European amateur champion at bantamweight – England's first since 1961 – who, if still an amateur in 2012, may fight a division up at the 57kg featherweight. Other boxers of note include the 20-year-old Birmingham flyweight Khalid Yafai, who last month won gold at the EU championships, was England's first under-17 world champion, won the senior ABA title at 17, and also competed at the Beijing Olympics. Kirk Garvey, from London's Earlsfield club, is a three-times junior ABA champion who, at 6ft 2in, is rangy for a middleweight.

Camberwell's Obed Mbwakongo, who has two ABA light-heavyweight titles, was edged out of the team for Beijing by the eventual medallist Tony Jeffries, and is a talented if erratic fighter, recently claiming silver at the EU championships.

David Price, a 6ft 5in 23-year-old heavyweight from Scarborough's Westway club who won light-heavyweight bronze at the junior world championships, and Fred Evans, 17, the 2007 European junior light-welter champion from Wales, are also considered to be contenders for a place in 2012.

Following GB's haul of three medals at the 2008 Olympics, which is the best since the 1956 Melbourne Games and included James DeGale's middleweight gold, the sport was awarded just over £8m for London 2012. Currently boasting around 820 amateur clubs with nearly to 20,000 boxers in England alone, the sport is buoyant.

Three years is still a distance to make any firm assessment but with home advantage and on the back of the success in Beijing, there will be hopes of improving the tally, and Saunders has a fighting chance of gold.

Medals in 2008 2 gold, 1 bronze

Projected 2012 4-5 including 1 gold

Cycling

Richard Moore

The British cyclists identified in 2005 as potential medallists at the London Games would have included the vast majority of those who featured in the team that returned with a record eight gold medals from Beijing. Jason Kenny and Steven Burke were earmarked for success in London, but both won medals four years ahead of schedule: gold and silver in Kenny's case, bronze in Burke's. They are gold-medal prospects for 2012, but there is no reason to suspect that the older generation – including the Beijing gold medallists Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Nicole Cooke and Bradley Wiggins – will not still be in the frame for London.

Only the quadruple Olympic gold medallist Hoy, who will be 36, might be considered a long shot; the others will be in their early thirties, and should be in their prime. In fact, of the 14 British cyclists who won medals in Beijing, only three – Jamie Staff, Paul Manning and Chris Newton – seem unlikely to make the team in 2012. There is also a question mark over Rebecca Romero, the rower-turned-cyclist, 29, but it is her desire to continue in the sport that's the issue, not her age.

While Kenny and Burke were the Beijing surprise packages, their success was balanced by Mark Cavendish and Shanaze Reade, who were expected to win a medal but did not. Both will be solid medal prospects in London.

Since Beijing other youngsters have also emerged. David Daniell (19) has been dubbed "the next Chris Hoy" by the British coach Shane Sutton, with the endurance rider Lizzie Armitstead (20) and the sprinter Jess Varnish (18) following in the tyre-marks of Cooke and Pendleton respectively. Armitstead has already had a big impact, winning won gold, silver and bronze at the 2009 world championships in Poland.

Ironically, the only athlete whose prospects for London could be in question is the rider whose stock has recently risen to new heights. Wiggins, the revelation of the Tour de France, is a three-time Olympic gold medallist on the track, but his breakthrough on the road could – as he has already hinted – encourage him to abandon the track.

With their medal haul in Beijing bringing an increase in funding from UK Sport, to £26.9m, and a new partner in Sky, whose financial contribution has not been revealed, it is difficult to imagine the sport in better health. There is the question of whether, with the launch next year of Team Sky, the new British Tour de France squad, the governing body's focus might be diverted away from track racing. But, with the Beijing coaching team remaining largely intact, this is a minor worry.

Medals in 2008 8 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze

Projected 2012 10 medals, 9 gold

Rowing

Owen Gibson

Following a stellar performance in Beijing, from which British rowers emerged with six medals (two of each colour), its potential to repeat the feat at Eton Dorney in 2012 secured the sport a 5.5% increase in funding under UK Sport's "no compromise" principle. Alongside cycling, there is a lot of faith being placed in rowing as the engine of the plan to secure fourth place or better in the 2012 medal table. That faith is backed up by £27.5m over the four-year funding cycle, making it the best funded Olympic sport.

The year after an Olympics is typically a time of some flux, as successful crews disband or take a year off and new combinations are tried. Two of the men's four who won a last-gasp gold in Beijing, stroke Andy Hodge and Peter Reed, have teamed up to form a new pair in what was supposed to be the flagship boat for the next four years. But after a shock defeat at the World Cup in Munich to New Zealand's Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, who they defeated in that Olympic final, they have subsequently been beaten twice more by the pair. Much now depends on how they fare at the World Championships in Poznan, Poland, next month.

Poland will also provide a stern test for the new men's four, three of whom won silver in the men's eight on the final day in Beijing, who are well fancied after their win in Munich. A new men's eight has been put together and while not seen as quite fast enough yet to contend for medals, they will be expected to improve as 2012 approaches. Kath Grainger, the three-time Olympic silver medallist who was the stroke in the quadruple scull in Beijing, has opted to switch to the single scull but is still feeling her way into the event and struggling to compete with the top two or three in her class.

Annabel Vernon and Anna Bebington, who both won medals in Beijing, and Sophie Hoskins and Hester Goodsell, a new lightweight double who won at the World Cup and are considered to have quickly clicked, will be in contention. Others, such as the Beijing lightweight pair gold medallists Mark Hunter (now coaching in California) and Zac Purchase (who is taking a year out from top-level competition), are expected to return to the fray next season.

After winning the World Cup by a huge margin this month, British rowers will collectively go to next month's World Championships confident that the thread of success that has run through the sport for the past decade will continue all the way through to 2012.

Medals in 2008 2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze

Projected 2012 5 medals (2 gold)

Diving

Andy Bull

Tom Daley is the most high-profile prospect identified for 2012 but the diving programme has expanded and the team now includes a number of likely finalists, including Rebecca Gallantree and Tonia Couch. Pete Waterfield, who won a silver medal diving with Leon Taylor in the 10m synchronised event in Athens 2004, is also still in the frame. Daley surpassed expectations by winning gold in the 10m platform at the World Championships in Rome last week, and the GB team had five finalists at the championships, with Waterfield finishing fourth in the 1m springboard. Daley is still building his partnership with Max Brick, who replaced Blake Aldridge, and the duo finished ninth in the sychronised platform in Rome. Megan Sylvester, 15, finished seventh in Beijing seventh in Rome with Monique Gladding in the 10m synchronised dive.

Predicted to return with one medal in 2008, the diving team failed to win anything after Daley endured a disappointing Olympics, mainly due to the problems in his partnership with Aldridge. Nevertheless, the sport received a 13% increase on its funding to £6.7m, and the squad now has impressive strength in depth, even if Daley is the only real contender for gold.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 1 gold

Gymnastics

Anna Kessel

British gymnastics is enjoying a renaissance after the best Olympic performance in 100 years. Louis Smith's bronze medal on the pommel horse in Beijing gave the sport its most obvious lift but the depth and potential of the squad were underlined as the teenagers Daniel Keatings and Becky Downie qualified for individual finals – Downie finishing an impressive 12th in the all-around competition. Back in 2005 both Smith and Keatings were identified as 2012 hopes and their progress has added weight to that prediction. Beth Tweddle, Britain's first world champion, in 2006, is also looking likely to star, aged 27, in 2012 when she will be 27 years old.

More medals were won at this year's European Championships with two gold, two silver and a bronze and there are high hopes for further successes at the World Championships in London later this year. Despite the sport's meagre budget (relative to equipment and training hours needed) of £10.33m, a 14.3% increase on 2008, and poor training facilities – Smith and Keatings share a gym with a toddler group – dedicated coaches in Britain are producing a generation of gymnasts who are genuine medal hopes in one of the most competitive and demanding Olympic sports.

Medals in 2008 1 bronze

Projected 2012 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze

Equestrianism

Steve Bierley

If a word straight from several horses' mouths were possible, then it would be easier to get a clearer picture of Britain's hopes for 2012. The skill and bravery of the riders, notably in the three-day event, is unquestioned but the calibre of the horses, and their fitness, is paramount. Before Beijing Zara Phillips's Toytown went lame, which radically affected Britain's challenge for individual and team medals.

After months of competition around the globe, a six-strong squad has just been selected for the European eventing championships in Fontainebleau, France in September, including four experienced riders – Tina Cook, Mary King, William Fox-Pitt and Oliver Townend – along with Lucy Wiegersma Nicola Wilson, while many of the horses are new to this level of competition. The Equestrian world-class programme receives £13.6m from UK sport but the generosity of individual owners remains essential in this most elite of sports, with the same applying across eventing, dressage and show jumping.

Medals in 2008 2 bronze

Projected 2012 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze

Archery

The sport will likely rely on the same group who failed to win any medals in Beijing, most of whom were readily identifiable in 2005 as the nation's top prospects.

At the time Alison Williamson and Laurence Godfrey were coming off third- and fourth-placed finishes in Athens, while Alan Wills had just taken silver at the world games in Duisberg. Simon Terry, meanwhile, had only recently returned to the sport after a break of more than 10 years, but won bronze in Barcelona as an 18-year-old and was rapidly rediscovering top form. Naomi Folkard and Charlotte Burgess complete the women's team, but while all have claimed medals in international competitions over the past three years, overall improvements have been incremental at best.

Archery GB has been allocated £4.5m from UK Sport in the build-up to 2012, yet the only likely prospect to break into the team is Tom Barber, the 18-year-old who was first reserve in Beijing. Former Olympic cyclist Sara Symington was appointed as performance director in February, and will be expected to deliver medals.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 1 bronze

Badminton

Beijing was something of a disaster with no medals, so much so that Ian Moss, formerly involved in rowing, was appointed performance director after a long and difficult post-mortem. There is no shortage of funding – £8.6m – in a sport that has had considerable success at world, European and Commonwealth level, with a state-of-the-art national centre in Milton Keynes, but the prospects for London do not look brilliant. It had been hoped that Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, the silver medal winners in Athens, might stick together but Emms has retired. The best hope for a medal may be Robertson and Anthony Clark, who have moved quickly into the world top 10 in the men's doubles. The best singles prospect is Rajiv Ouseph, who has pushed hard to reach the world top 20. There is no doubt that the standard of British badminton has risen, and that the infrastructure is very impressive, but China, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia remain the leading countries.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 1 bronze

Basketball

Britain has not entered a basketball team in the Olympics since 1948 but forward Luol Deng had just completed an impressive rookie season with the NBA's Chicago Bulls when London was awarded the Olympics, and has since developed into one of their leading starters. Other British players have also emerged, with Pops Mensah-Bonsu establishing himself in the NBA and the 6ft 11in Robert Archibald impressing for Malaga in Spain. And last year the men's team qualified for Eurobasket – basketball's European championships for the first time, though their prospects in September's tournament will be damaged if Deng, who is currently recovering from a stress fracture in his right leg, can't play. A medal finish in 2012 is unlikely, though hopes will be greatly enhanced if Deng can persuade his former Bulls team-mate Ben Gordon, who was born in London, to help out.

Despite UK Sport's investment of £8.75m in basketball the women's team were relegated from Europe's top division last year. They have since been re-instated by the International Basketball Federation, who are keen to see Britain field two teams in 2012, but continued poor results may yet see them excluded from the Olympic tournament.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 None

Canoeing

Having made steady progress since Sydney, canoeing burst into life in Beijing delivering a gold, a silver and a bronze. Tim Brabants, the kayaking doctor who won a bronze in Sydney, memorably took gold in Beijing and should still be around in 2012, and Campbell Walsh, the world No3 and a slalom silver medallist in Athens in 2004, will be hoping to make up for his disappointment last year. David Florence, who won silver in the slalom in Beijing and has recently been in good form, will be one of several canoeists taking advantage of a rule change to allow him to compete in more than one class in London. That should boost medal hopes further. The only potential medallist to drop out of contention since 2005 is Helen Reeves, who won a slalom bronze in Athens but retired in 2006.

The impressive haul in Beijing and good prospects among a crop of new names headed by Rachel Cawthorn, who became the first British woman in history to win a medal in a sprint when she took bronze at the European championships in June, led to a 19.9% funding boost to £16.3m for this Olympic cycle, and the sport is considered broadly on track for 2012.

Medals in 2008 One each of gold, silver and bronze

Projected 2012 Three, including two gold

Fencing

Close to 70% of fencing's £1.25m funding from UK Sport will go to the men's foil team, which produced only a 14th-placed finish for Richard Kruse in Beijing but remains the most likely source of medals in 2012. Kruse won his first World Cup event in January and was second in the European championships in Plovdiv this month. Laurence Halsted claimed bronze in Bulgaria, and both were in a group who finished fourth in the team competition, an event that will be reintroduced for 2012 after being excluded in Beijing. Outside of the men's foil only Alex O'Connell, in the men's sabre, stands out. O'Connell won the under-17 title at the junior world championships in 2005 and qualified for Beijing despite being half-way through a classics degree at Cambridge University. Having graduated this summer, he is now training full-time but is considered a long-shot for a medal.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 1 silver

Football

Fifa announced in May it would allow a team made up solely of English players to represent Great Britain in 2012 although the BOA has yet to confirm its plans for the team. However, the sports minister Andy Burnham has given a GB team his full support and called for the home nations to fall into line.

The squad must comprise mainly under-23 players, with three overage players allowed. Most of the eligible players will be in England's current under-19 squad, which includes Arsenal's Jack Wilshere and Gavin Hoyte, Manchester United's Danny Welbeck and Danny Drinkwater, and Everton's Jack Rodwell. Age limited international competitions are notoriously tough to predict. The Olympics is the unofficial under-23 World Cup, and is used by many countries as a key development tool. Nigeria and Cameroon are recent winners of the gold medal, but Argentina won the last two in 2008 and 2004.There are political differences to resolve before the team is even confirmed, but it seems unfeasible the host nation will not field a team, and playing at Wembley should be a rare incentive for the nation's young talent to perform on the most global stage.

Medals in 2008 N/A

Projected 2012 None

Handball

The British team has had its funding cut to £1.4m for the four-year period from 2009-13, which threatens to disrupt the chances of building competitive men's and women's teams from scratch in the years since London was awarded the Games. Several hundred people with backgrounds in other sports were trialled and a small number were given places on the elite development programme.

British Handball remains confident of their potential to meet Olympic standard and the majority of players are earning valuable experience in the continental European club game. The target from the beginning was never the improbable goal of a podium finish but to secure a top-eight finish for both men and women, in order to establish a strong legacy for the sport in the UK. With no history of Olympic qualification and no tradition of the sport here that would be a huge achievement, one that the game's governing body is optimistic about.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 None

Hockey

The goal for 2008 – to have both teams achieve top-eight finishes – was comfortably met but the target for 2012 – two podium finishes – looks far more challenging. The men's and women's teams finished fifth and sixth respectively in Beijing, and questions hang over both ahead of 2012.

The home nations compete separately outside of the Olympics, and will not begin formal preparations for the next Games until April next year, but the lack of fresh talent emerging on the men's side is clear. The defenders Jon Bleby and Ben Marsden have both retired since Beijing, and the England Under-21 side finished 16th in the junior World Cup in June. England's women's team, meanwhile, were beaten 7-0 by China at this month's Champions Trophy. Charlotte Craddock, a forward who travelled to Beijing aged 17, is expected to develop into a leading star, while on the men's side Richard Mantell, top scorer in the Dutch league, was recently named to the world XI. Signs of clear progress are scarce for a sport that has been allocated £14.1m in funding.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 1 bronze

Judo

The sport is in a state of transition, and the changes that have been put into place after the disappointments of Beijing, where no medals were won, may not bear full fruition until 2016. Judo, for the time being, remains well funded with £7.6m – a 10% increase on that for Beijing –and has followed the template of so many other sports by setting up the British Judo performance institute in Dartford, Kent, thereby centralising and controlling training and coaching, and all the other inter-related disciplines.

Judo, by its very nature, is one of the most unpredictable of sports to assess and predict, and the governing body are under no illusion that they are suddenly going to produce a plethora of medal winners like cycling, sailing, and rowing. New athletes are being blooded but there were few signs of success at the recent European championships save for Sarah Clark, 31, who took the silver in Georgia, having moved down a weight since Beijing. With 14 weight categories and 56 medals at stake (two bronze in each class) there is an obvious potential for success in 2012, hence the funding, while home advantage may provide a further spur over the next three years to youngsters such as Gemma Howell, Ashley McKenzie, and Jean-Rene Badrick. But London may come a little too soon.

Medals in 2008 None

Projected 2012 1 bronze

Modern pentathlon

Heather Fell was the only potential 2012 medallist identified when London won the bid, and while her success taking silver in Beijing was encouraging it is also true that by the next Games she may be past her peak. Fell, 26, was in no rush to commit herself to another Olympics after 2008, and though she now appears set to take part, her form had been poor this year before a stunning swim helped her take silver in June's European championships. Britain's only other medal at the championships was in the women's team event – not included at the Olympics – but the tournament may be a bad gauge, as it was the first major competition in which the running and shooting disciplines have been combined into one event. Athletes' ability to adjust to this change will be crucial to future success. That may prove easier for younger athletes than older ones, and Steve Mason, 18, Freyja Prentice, 19, and Russell North, 20, will make senior World Championship debuts at Crystal Palace next month. After £6.4m worth of funding the sport is confident it will manage at least one podium finish in 2012.